Increasingly, enterprises are deploying Self-Service Terminals (SSTs) at various locations for use by consumers. The locations can include financial institutions, grocery stores, retail stores, government venues, entertainment venues, gaming venues, transportation venues, and the like.
One type of SST is an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). ATMs present unique changes to a servicing enterprise because security is of utmost concern. In fact, network access to the ATM network, which the ATM communicates with for financial transactions, is often unavailable for access to servicing engineers. Moreover, when a customer transacts at an ATM, the ATM network may switch to a different bank network because the ATM where the customer transacts may be associated with a different bank from a customer bank account used for the customer transaction.
Some banks include automated teller or interactive banking services for customers at one of their ATMs. This enables teller assistance for Self-Service (SS) transactions, but these services only work for transactions that are not routed through a standard ATM network. So, when a standard transaction occurs through a standard ATM network, the customer receives little assistance.
Assistance is an issue when a customer is denied a transaction by the ATM network. The customer is given no reason or rationale for the denial. In many cases, all the customer receives is a standard message “unable to complete this transaction at this time.” It may have nothing to do with the customer; the ATM may not have sufficient cash to dispense in the amount the customer requested. But, the customer has no idea why the transaction was denied. Some customers may even panic and think that their accounts were compromised in some manner. Also, often times the receipt printed for a denied transaction (if one is printed at all) offers no additional details to permit the customer to ascertain what the issue was with the denied transaction. This is frustration to the customer and can lead to a bank losing the valued customer.